Ash's progress thread

[III_ASH_III]

Guys & Girls,

Gonna give this a go, I've owned my 'family friendly' Astra for 3 1/2 years now.... Ended up with my 'family friendly' Astra after finding out my wife was pregnant the first of now two little monsters! traded in my gorgeous 2.0l Turbo Astra Twintop for it very sad day.

First pictures I have of her, the day I got her home: (purchased from Brindley in Tipton - before they moved to Wednesbury)





First thing I did was had the windows tinted (my excuse was, it'll be better for the kids when the sun shines) , also purchased some roof bars & my first (of many) roof boxes.








I then decided to just drive it and use it as it was, this went on for about 3 years, I then got the '3 year itch' - do I get a new car or do I modify the one I currently own so it feels like a new car..... as you guessed I went for the second option

So.... I had a trip to see [MENTION=4]Pecky[/MENTION] 'the all things Vauxhall' expert he installed & activated cruise control, system check, comfort close & anti hijack... oh and also the VXR needle sweep (yes, that's right, my diesel has the VXR needle sweep.... I love it ... ) cheers Pecky.

Next up, I had the wheels refurbed and powder coated in Anthracite, had this done at speedys wheels in Birmingham, £200 (including painting my callipers for me). I was happy with the price and even more happy with the end result.





I ordered and fitted an Armster 2 armrest & wind deflectors

Next came a good clean and polish & a new bigger black roof box:











After spending quite a bit of money on my Astra it decided to start playing me up, had EML light on and no power until 2000RPM ---- every 1.9 16v 150 CDTi owner knows this is commonly caused by the dreaded EGR valve. I purchased and fitted a new EGR (£110 including gaskets), whilst fitting I cleaned what I could reach of the manifold & the boost sensor. They were filthy!!!!



Before:





After:





Issue's resolved and car performing well again I visited Chris [MENTION=3]Gairo[/MENTION] he kindly offered to lower it for me, here he is hard at work




Really pleased with the results, managed to pick the springs up from eBay for £60 brand new.



Shortly after having it lowered I decided it was time to resolve the EGR issues once and for all. I contacted Nic from Tuned & Styled, arranged for him to visit me in Brum whilst I was at work one Friday to remap & perform an EGR delete. All went well and according to Nic's quoted mapping figures my car is now on a dual T8 style map running 170BHP in 'normal' mode and 210BHP in 'sports'

So, this is how she's sits at the moment:

I'm very impressed with the way she drives/handles and still delivers awesome MPG figures, its win win all round







If anyone can get in touch with Dani for me to thank her for the fantastic photo's that she took of my car at PVS that would be greatly appreciated

I have plenty more plans for the car, i'm just fast running out of money, next up I want:

private plate L70WYS (Lowey's)
top hose kit (red)
VXR interior
HID's

Not a bad little list.

Will update thread once I've chosen what to do next.....

[Gairo]

Fantastic car this.... In the best colour too

[III_ASH_III]

Fantastic car this.... In the best colour too

Cheers dude

[Jay-GSi]

Really like that matey! Really clean and wheels go a treat on that colour

[paulwhite1987]

Very nice motor, the power red is really growing on me. Got to get me a roof box too. Got the bars but can't find a nice box for a good price. Keep the mods coming.

[Adam_SRI]

Very nice work there mate! That EGR was Dirty

[KraZed]

Looking good mate got any more plans for it?

[Astra08sri]

You know how I feel about this car lol
What's next ??

[III_ASH_III]

[MENTION=9]Adam_VXR[/MENTION] that is my manifold , the faulty EGR I took off is still sitting in my shed caked in carbon. I put a new EGR on.

[III_ASH_III]

[MENTION=10]Tippz[/MENTION] [MENTION=352]Astra08sri[/MENTION] only a little list planned at the moment:

Top hose kit (in red)
Private plate
VXR seats

Need the overtime to pick up at work again though.

If I ever part with it Chase I'll give you first refusal